Morning commute rain causes accidents

Moderate to heavy rainfall fell across San Diego County Friday, one day later than expected.

The rain began to fall just in time for the morning commute and contributed to 34 accidents on the county's highways and freeways as of 10 a.m., the California Highway Patrol reported.

Nearly half of those crashes occurred in the 8 a.m. hour, according to the CHP, which typically responds to 50-75 crashes in a 24-hour dry weather day.

The National Weather Service forecast called for only a 20 to 30 percent chance of showers by this afternoon, but by 6:30 a.m., the agency's Web site showed a large band of rain moving into the county from the Pacific.

A Pacific storm was expected to drop up to three-quarter of an inch of rain Thursday but failed to deliver, according to the Weather Service. Only isolated sprinkles moved across the region throughout the day Thursday.

The unsettled conditions should linger through early next week, NWS meteorologist Ted MacKechnie said. "

Our confidence in this whole system is quite low,'' he added, calling the storm a "fickle'" one.